Block Diagram of Basic Measurement System and Explanation (Working) of Its Each Block

Basic Measurement System

The Basic Measurement system is a set of different blocks which can be used to measure any quantity or to specify anything which can be measured. The block diagram of a simple measurement system is given above. A Basic Measurement system consists of following main blocks:

Transducer or Primary Sensing Element
Signal Conditioner
Output Device

Explanation and Working of each block is given below:
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Transducer or Primary Sensing Element: A Transducer is a device which converts one form of energy into some other form of energy. The input to the transducer or primary sensing element is any quantity that is it can be Electrical as well as Non-Electrical. Its main function is to convert one form of energy into some other useful form of energy. It is also known as 'Pickup Element'.

Mainly Transducers can be classified into two types on the basis of power supply required:

Active Transducers
Passive Transducers.

Active Transducers: Active transducers are those which does not requires external power supply for their operation. For example: Photo Voltage Cell, Piezo Electric Crystal, Generator etc.

Passive Transducers: Passive Transducers are those transducers which requires external power supply for their operation. For Example: Resistive, Inductive and Capacitive Transducers.

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Signal Conditioner: Signal Conditioner is a very important part of any measurement system. Its role comes into play when the output of transducer or primary sensing element is very low. It is used to amplify or modify the incoming signal from transducer according to output requirement. We may either clip the signal, amplify the signal or can modify the signal in some other way according to our requirement. In other words Signal Conditioning is done to improve the quality of output of measurement system. The examples of signal conditioners are : Amplifier, A to D Converter (Analog to Digital Converter), Multiplexer, Modulator etc.

Output Unit: The output unit of a measurement system is consists of a measurement device or we can say it 'secondary transducer'. It is used to display or analyze the final output of the measurement system. The examples of Output unit can be any output device like CRO (Cathode Ray Oscilloscope) or XY recorder.